The theory of weak ties

A couple of days ago, a job seeker described how she met her new employer through a friend of a friend. Her story is interesting. She says she’s a planner, someone who likes to plan her week and set goals, but what she didn’t plan for was the connection to her new job – it came from a person she had never met.

Last October marked the beginning of her job search, and she has since learned a great deal about the way her planning helped her. She learned the value of having a daily structure or schedule to follow during the week. However, staying flexible and being open to unexpected connections can be just as important as following a plan of action.

When I asked how she landed her job, she talked about going through her lists of contacts, starting with her strongest connections, like family and friends. They were helpful and gave her some great leads, passed her resume along and served as an impromptu support group through the holidays when her job search seemed to slow to a crawl.

She relied a great deal on those closest contacts until a month ago when she felt as if she was networking with the same contacts. At that point, she started reaching out to friends she described as acquaintances some of whom she hadn’t talked with in years.

Overall, she was right on target – planning and developing a job-search strategy that included networking. Starting a job search by contacting the people you know first makes perfect sense, particularly when you are building your own style of networking.

In fact, the surprising way she landed her job happens fairly often. Dr. Mark Granovetter, a Stanford sociologist, sheds some light on why job candidates land jobs through people they least know.

According to the theory of weak ties, all those brief “hello” and “let’s stay in touch” exchanges lead to jobs you might never thought of, much less planned. As with all encounters, if you are serious about your job search, follow-up counts, and you have to be proactive.

Consider the weak ties theory this week when you are listing everyone you know, and spend some time thinking about who you know outside of your family and friends. You might be surprised where you find your next dream job.